It’s been awaiting the right meal and so it happened: we choose to pair it with fresh grilled beef hamburgers and mashed Yukon gold potatoes & sweet yams, with a bit of Parmesan cheese and sour cream. The smoothness of the beer was utterly sublime with the earthiness of the meal.

Keeping in mind that color is not flavor, the glass really brought this beers gorgeousness out in the open for us to admire. Poured into a tulip style glass, it gave us a lovely aromatic experience, we could see the ‘legs’ of the beer slip back into the main body, and it was so much fun to see a rich creamy head that lasted for some time.

Thank you to our friends at Grand Teton Brewing in lovely Victor Idaho. It’s always a fun day to enjoy their beers. And no, they didn’t pay me to write this. I do it freely and happily when I want to crow about high quality, flavorful, well made beer.

The alcohol in beer is the product of the brewing process wherein alcohol and CO2 are the result or fermentation. Brewers determine, within their recipe making, what resultant alcohol content they are aiming for. And while brewing certainly is a science, it’s equally art and the final outcome may or may not be as precise as they desire. Beer is a living organism and brewers are excellent manipulators of the wort and beer to get the results they desire.

The alcohol content of beer is commonly referenced as ABV, or Alcohol By Volume. It’s familiar to many and you should be able to find it in all beer labeling. If the beer you get or serve comes from a cask or keg, the staff of the dispensing body should absolutely know what the ABV is. It’s a responsibility factor for both the serving or selling party and the consuming party. Equal onus here, folks.

Alcohol is the reason some people drink, and in moderation, that’s acceptable. Hopefully more people than not partake because of all the other wonderful reasons there are to drink beer: camaraderie, education, entertainment, support, and curiosity.

Beer is the result of an extraordinary investment. Of resources in people, time, equipment, supplies, money, and passion. Enjoying it responsibly reflects the respect you also hold for it while simultaneously recognizing the investment of the brewer/y.

Cheers to all parts of CAMFA: Color, Aroma, Mouthfeel, Flavor and Alcohol. Cheers to the brewers round the world who allow us to partake of this universal beverage.

Flavor is perhaps the most commonly known or familiar aspect of beer. When you ask someone why they either like or don’t like beer, many will say the flavor/s. It’s one of the most obvious sensory parts in the beer experience.

Flavor is a wonderful part of beer

And there’s a few good reasons why. Whether you like the flavors of the beer or not, you notice them right away. Many people still don’t pay much attention to the beauty in the color of beer, or the smelling of their beer or even the texture of their beer. Flavor is a common denominator.

What do you taste?

What kinds of flavors are you identifying?

Being able to label the flavors you taste, like identifying smells, is a powerful tool to building your beer knowledge. Flavors of beer are as diverse and limitless as any beverage can be.

Part of that is due to the fact that with at least 4 basic ingredients and potentially scads more, there are infinite flavor combinations that can occur. Add to that: Beer is a living organism (most beer is not pasteurized). Hence it’ll stay alive and the flavors can change subtly or remarkably depending on a few factors.

You want the beer to stay alive, to not have the yeast die or get killed off, to really enjoy the beer as the brewer meant it to be. Fresh, full of flavors and aromas for you to relish.

Flavor is the (so far) result of the color, aroma, and mouthfeel of your beer. The flavors are a kind of metaphorical tie that brings them together in your mouth. And such wonderful ties they are!

How the beer feels in our mouth, the texture, lushness or leanness, is the whole idea and we can really start to full-on experience our beer once we get to mouthfeel. With the first steps being looking at your beer and then smelling your beer, the mouthfeel of the beer helps to start filling out the intimate knowledge of the beer in our mouths.

It’s important to know that mouthfeel is an integral part of enjoying beer. That it’s generally something that takes a bit of time to get to know. And it’s not necessarily the same for your ‘lawn mower’ type beer drinking, wherein you’re looking to primarily quench your thirst.

Be patient, try, linger. Learn to really embrace the mouthfeel of your beer and where it can lead. Hopefully to wanting to do it again with another high quality beer with friends.

Aroma of beer is one the the first sensory aspects to truly learning about and enjoying beer. Scent tells us so much about the beer and you should always smell your beer before drinking it.

Why? Because the ingredients have so much to offer your nose!

If you don’t smell your beer yet, if you’re staff needs to learn how to smell their beer, then today’s the day to start. WEB always teaches smelling your beer at events. Without scent, flavors don’t have the same significance or impact either.

Rebecca Newman taught me a few methods of smelling beer: Bloodhound and Drive By. And that’s precisely what we share at all events. Teaching them the how and why equally solidify why smelling your beer matters to the entire enjoyability.

For many consumers, even though they may smell wine or foods, it’s never occurred to them to smell their beer first. It’s a terrific entry into your helping educate them via your own staff.

It’s important to keep in mind that smelling requires practice, just as other skills do. One thing to teach and encourage people to do is to name the smells they are sniffing. memory is an extremely powerful mechanism. When you can put a name to a scent, you can better recall that scent and keep the learning rolling forward.

So the next time you get invited to or host a “Beer Tasting” cover the smelling part first. Chances are good your nose will get to it before your taste buds do.

The beauty of CAMFA is it covers basics bases for all levels of beer enthusiasm. From the just learning novice to the well versed. Everyone benefits, including those giving instruction because you keep learning more from the audience.

Scene: 5 course inaugural beer dinner at a well established and reputed multi tap restaurant.

Outcome: More knowledgeable, beer and food savvy folks who will repeat the experience and spread the information. Hardworking breweries develop more educated and engaged followers. Further increased development of satisfied beer market share.

C = Color. For the beer talk about the colors of the beers, where the color comes from, how it’s not intrinsically entwined with stereotypical flavors, share how it’s tied to ingredients. For the food you can talk about colors of foods, nutritional implications of certain colors, how color of foods can be an enticement and complement to their beer.

A = Aroma. For the beer talk about what the beer smells like, how to actually smell your beer (bloodhound, drive by), why smell is important to the beer experience and help ID the beer’s ‘health’. For the food, smell is usually one of the most important factors and indicators both of safe food and potential flavors. Talk about smell memory and naming flavors you taste to help with that flavor memory.

M = Mouthfeel. For the beer, talk about what the beer feel likes in your mouth, also known as body. Discuss texture, offer suggestions on words to describe mouthfeel (toothy, lush, chewy, slick), and encourage words that frame beer in a positive way. For the food, same idea. Talk about how and why different foods may have unique textures to them and how that affects the other aspects of the eating experience.

F = Flavor. For the beer talk about flavor identifiers, how to actually label the flavors we taste, what they may mean and where they can come from. Discuss major off flavors of beer (cardboard, butter, etc.). For the food, talk about how particular flavors may evoke memories, why they like some flavors and why others turn them off. Also discuss how different foods taste on their own AND when in your mouth simultaneously with different beers.

A = Alcohol. For the beer, teach Alcohol By Volume (ABV) and what that exactly means to them, as consumers. You can also discuss Alcohol by Weight and how that is different, as well as moderation in really learning how to savor your beer, as it was intended. For food, you can talk about cooking with alcohol – beer hopefully! How alcohol can dissipate in some cooking processes, what kinds of flavor characteristics alcohol in food can provide, and suggestions of successful recipes with beer.

How the beer smells, how it swirls, how it tastes – all over our mouth, and what it looks like.

Truly, there is a great deal of science behind it. Ask Rebecca Newman, Jennifer Helber, Jeri Kustelski – to name a few of the very knowledgeable and respected beer sensory scientists.

When’s the last time you smelled your beer? When’s the last time you swished it all over inside your mouth before swallowing? When’s the last time you held it up to the light or drank it with your eyes closed to not see the color first?

Experiment with your senses and your beer. It’s very enlightening in so many ways.